


Ennead: Cherished

by JoeyTaylor



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Bad News, Blog, Cat, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eye Contact, F/M, Family, Fem!Yami, Friendship, Future Plans, Gaming, Genderbending, Grief/Mourning, Hospital, Implied Nudity, Lost Item, Meisa, Nightmares, Noisy neighbours, Phone Call, Post Egypt, Pregnancy, Promises, Sabotage, Sadness, Slow Build, The Question, Travel, Wedding, death mention, dragon riding, ennead, fem!Yugi, final major project, maybe not, maybe the future, planning, returning, ring, smols, uni work, upset, whatif, wishshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 15,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28975680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeyTaylor/pseuds/JoeyTaylor
Summary: The Pharaoh has moved on leaving her sister behind to carry on without her. Luckily there's someone there ready to help pick up the pieces...
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Mutou Yuugi
Kudos: 9
Collections: Ennead Ficlets





	1. Outside the Window

**Author's Note:**

> This is a whatif! that starts post Memory World and uses the Ennead canon up until that point. Anything within this story though is not considered canonical for the Ennead series. However it is full of cute and cuddles, so enjoy.
> 
> Written for Yu-Gi-Oh! United's Love Story Valentine's Event. 
> 
> Rules: Each member may pick one ship, and a role will be assigned. Ships will compete against each other by submitting work. Each work will be given one point towards their ship. (Yes, I checked each drabble/one shot in this collection counts as 1 work)
> 
> The last chapter will be posted on Valentine's Day 2021

Katsuya shivered as he made his way through the darkened Domino streets. While it was warm for Domino, after the heat of the Egyptian sun, everything was cold. Still, he was nearly home and a hot tea would solve the problem quite nicely.

As he approached the Kame Game Shop, the home of the Mutous, as well as himself, he could see his closest friend and partner staring out of the window. He wanted to think she was waiting for him, but he had seen her expression before.

Egypt had been hard on all of them, but for Yugi, who had ripped her soul in two once more to allow her twin sister to complete her duty and keep her promises to the Thief Queen, ensuring the afterlife of those of Kul Elna?

It had been almost impossible.

He waved up at her and was pleased to get a response, suggesting that she was not entirely lost in her own thoughts again. The smile was small, it was true, but it was honest and that was what he had been hoping for.

Stepping inside the warm house staved off the worst of his chill and he quickly kicked off his trainers and headed upstairs, making his way over to the window where Yugi had been sat.

“Hey.” He murmured as he put his hands on her shoulders. He did not bother asking how she was, not when he could feel her shaking underneath his fingers.

“Hi.” She did not resist his arms as they snaked around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug, nor did she complain when his chin rested on her head. “Sorry.”

Anger briefly flared up within him at her apology. Yugi was not at fault here. She never had been. She had only ever been dragged into trouble caused by others. Meisa had made the choice to leave. Yugi had not made her. She had nothing to apologise for. Especially her feelings.

“It’s only been a couple of weeks. You’re allowed to be upset.” He could feel her lean into him, taking the comfort that was being offered, now she could be sure that it came without judgement. “You shared your mind with her for years, but I promise you, no matter how bad you feel, I’ll be here. Even if you’re in tears okay?”

The silent nod as she closed her eyes and the quiet huffs as she tried to suppress the sound of her venting her emotions told him that for now, at least, Yugi was going to let him give her the support she so desperately needed right now.


	2. Dancing

Katsuya’s hands were getting cold but he did not care as he leaned against the wall closest to the Dance Dance Revolution machine in the Domino Arcade, upon which Anzu and Yugi were competing.

Not on the same difficulty of course. Yugi was great at games but dancing was a part of Anzu’s soul, and the Queen of Games was very aware that she could never match her friend in skill. Still she made the ‘Medium’ game mode look good, while Anzu ruled the ‘Expert’ leader board with iron dance shoes.

Their dance moves were not what had his attention though. The huge grin on Yugi’s face was a rare sight these days and it warmed his heart to see it.

“Isn’t that Mutou Yugi over there?”

The former thug paused and frowned at the sounds of his girlfriend’s name. Turning to look at the speakers revealed a pair of teenage guys about his age were watching the dancers closely.

“Yeah, she’s shorter than I thought she’d be. Her friend’s cute though.”

“Short or not, I’d hit that. Especially if I had a chance to steal her God cards afterwards.”

His eyes narrowed and his hands would have balled into fists if he had not been holding the water bottles for the girls. They deserved better than to be ogled by a pair of jerks. Plus Yugi did not need the added stress of someone hunting through her things for God Cards that no longer existed in this world.

As the set came to an end, he stepped through the crowd that had gathered and passed Anzu her bottle before wrapping that arm around his girlfriend’s waist. When a pair of amethyst eyes looked up at him curiously, he just handed her the bottle. While she was distracted drinking from it, he glanced over at the pair who had been talking, eyes narrowed and saw, with some satisfaction, that they slunk away.

Good, both Anzu and Yugi deserved better anyway and Yugi was HIS girl.


	3. Food

Burger World burgers had been Yugi’s favourite food since long before Katsuya had made friends with her, so he had figured that taking her out to eat would put her in a better mood after the stress of school.

However…

“You sure you’re feeling alright Yuge?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” She looked honestly surprised as she paused at picking at her second burger to glance up at him. “Why?”

“You normally gulp down three of those and you’ve barely touched your second.”

“Ah.” His partner glanced down, a rueful expression on her face, “I dunno. I’ve just not been as hungry since we came back from Egypt.”

When his expression twisted into one of concern, Yugi quickly waved her hand, spilling some of the lettuce out of her burger, “No, no it’s not like… I’m not that far gone. I’m just finding I’m not as hungry anymore. I guess with…”

She swallowed hard and trailed off.

Katsuya got where she had been going with it though. With the Puzzle and Meisa gone, she was burning a lot less energy on a day-to-day basis, so she needed to eat less.

“Well,” He shrugged, reaching for her extra food, “You were eating for two.”

Yugi stared at him for a moment, then blushed bright red and snatched her burgers back. “Katsuya!!”

“What? It’s true.” He protested, putting his hands up before having to remind himself that Yugi was unlikely to seek revenge for whatever had embarrassed her.

“Yeah but you can’t say it like that!” Yugi’s voice squeaked in a way it had not done for years, “I wasn’t pregnant!”

Oh.

Oh!!

“I didn’t mean… I’m sorry… I… oops.” He backpedalled quickly, a blush of his own quickly spreading across his cheeks.

Yugi just snorted and shook her head, smiling ruefully as she slid the uneaten food across the table to him. “I’m just, getting used to the new normal, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it.” He really did. It was strange not to have the Spirit of the Puzzle around anymore. “And in the meantime I get to eat like a king.”

And with that he started chowing down.


	4. The Dream Catcher

Yugi tried to run as darkness swirled around her feet but she could not move to defend herself, nor could she stop the tidal wave that swept past her, swept over the platform she was stood on, and swirled in the arena below her, sweeping her friends into the dark ocean beyond.

Suddenly she was free and as she bolted for the edge of the platform, hoping to pull one or more of her friends out of the miasma…

She fell out of bed, hitting the floor.

“Ow.” She grumbled as she forced herself to her feet, rubbing her rump as she did so.

This was not the first time she had fallen out of bed because of nightmares and she was almost certain that it would not be the last. Before Meisa had left, her nightmares had occasionally heralded bad situations ahead. Now they were just remnants of things that had happened or what ifs that had never come to be.

Which would be better if they would just leave her alone for a night or two and let her get a decent night’s sleep.

The Song of Healing from the latest Zelda game in the collection she shared with Katsuya quietly floated down the corridor from the living room and reached her ears, causing her to let out a sigh as she glanced at the clock. If it was one of the many other songs from that game, she would have guessed that he had fallen asleep while playing, however the Song of Healing only really played during cutscenes, so he was probably still actively playing at three in the morning.

Deciding that since that had been the third time tonight she had been woken up by the same dream, she probably needed to clear her head before trying to sleep again, she headed in that direction, where she found Katsuya directing a goron to roll around a snow filled area.

“Hey Yuge.” Her friend shifted so she could join him on the couch. “Nightmares?”

She did not hesitate to join him, grabbing up her Pocket Monsters Crystal version as she curled into his side. “You too huh?”

“Still get them occasionally.” He shrugged, before cussing as his goron fell off of a cliff, “Figured I’d try the next section before I do the sleep thing again.”

She just snorted and turned the volume dial to 0 before switching on her Gameboy Color, in the mood to try the same thing.

It was not long though before picking moves for her Bayleef came slower and her character walked into walls as she lost track of the screen for a brief moment or two.

“Hey Yu…” Katsuya trailed off when looking down at her revealed that she had fallen asleep where she was curled, expression peaceful as her head rested just to the left of his heart. He did not have to heart to disturb her, even if it meant that he could not get to bed himself.

Not unwillingly resigned to continuing his play session he turned back to the screen after just three words, “Good night, Yuge.”


	5. Animals

A tiny mew was the only warning Katsuya had before a rather large, extra fluffy, silver furred cat was planting herself between him and her favourite human, breaking up the cuddle that they had been sharing.

“Ginka, no.” Katsuya huffed as he picked up the feline and handed her to Yugi, who tried to plant her on her other side, only for Ginka to melt out of her arms and settle right back between her and Katsuya with a satisfied chirp.

Yugi could not help the giggle that escaped as she tried to pull the fuzzy monster onto her lap, only for the part-ragdoll cat to roll right back into her preferred space. “Oh I’m sorry your highness, is it cuddles for Ginka time?”

Katsuya would have been put out by the satisfied meow the cat let out, but the laugh it drew out of Yugi was enough to push any irritation aside.


	6. The Vessel

The sounds of a frustrated noise echoed down the corridor, alerting Katsuya that something was wrong in Yugi’s room.

He approached the door and poked his head inside to find Yugi sprawled on her bed, drawing cards from her deck, one by one, closing her eyes between each card.

It hit him, he knew what she was doing.

Yugi had a knack for knowing which card she was about to pull without having to look. She said she could sense the hearts of her cards, which kind of made sense considering he knew at least some of them had ancient souls attached. She had often made a game of trying to guess which card was at the top of her deck from what she could sense from it.

And the miserable look in her eyes and the pursing of her lips told him that, right now, it was not going very well.

“Yuge?” At his quiet question, his friend startled, sending her deck sprawling everywhere.

“Ka…Katsuya!” She yelped as she scrambled to pick it up, relaxing slightly when he started collecting the cards that had hit the floor.

“Not having much luck today?” He asked as he handed her the black Dark Magician her grandfather had gotten for her and the red one he had won from Arkana as a gift for her.

“I’ve not had any luck since Anesan…” Yugi swallowed hard, her wavering voice showing she was more upset about that then she was trying to reveal. “I can’t sense the hearts of the cards anymore.”

“Seriously?”

Her nod was slow and her shoulders sank. “Started just after the duel with Anesan. I haven’t been able to sense anything since she left.”

He wanted to suggest it was just that she was not dueling as much as she used to and that maybe it had strained her connection to the cards, but he could not. Not when it had started that close to everything changing. And so close to Yugi’s normally radiant, friendly personality sinking beneath the tide of her grief.

“I guess,” She bit her lower lip and looked away from him, before continuing, “that Ishizu and everyone else was right. I’m worthless without her. Even my deck thinks so.”

“They’re wrong.” At the bite in Katsuya’s tone, Yugi’s gaze snapped towards him. “You’re not worthless. You’ve never been worthless. Not to me.”

“Wha…what?”

He pulled her into a kiss, stunning her for a moment, before pulling away. “I’ll be three seconds.”

She waited as he left the room, trusting that there would be an explanation, and soon he returned. With a small box in his hand.

And then he got down on one knee and opened the box to reveal a gold banded ring with a stunning amethyst inlaid, held in place by a setting that looked like a dragon’s claw.

“Katsuya?!” Yugi’s eyes widened as she stared him in the eyes, trying to understand.

“This ring is a promise from me, to you, that you will always, always mean something to me and I will always be at your side when you need me.” He swore to her as he took her left hand in his. “I don’t need to know if you’ll marry me one day. We’re too young for that and I know you want to go to university first. Kami only knows you’ll probably meet someone better than me there, but I want you to know. You were never just Meisa’s vessel. Not to me.”

Yugi stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded and watched as Katsuya shakily put the, surprisingly right size ring, on her ring finger.

Then she launched herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.

“You are my friend, my partner, my heart.” She swore as she felt his arms wrap around her and a warmth light up within her that had not been there for months, as her heart let itself open for the first time since she had lost her other soul, “And I will never, ever replace you. There’s no one who understands me like you do.”

They stayed there, cuddled together for a few more moments before Katsuya pulled away and as Yugi examined the ring on her finger, he let out a soft chuckle. “Just you wait, you’ll find some cute boy and you’ll think he’s the best thing since sliced bread.”

“Yeah right.” She chuckled back as she started to pick up her deck again, “Who else would believe…”

“Yuge?” He asked when she trailed off, eyes huge and staring at the cards in her hands. “You okay?”

“Ye… yeah.” The grin that graced her features as she clutched the deck close to her chest, able to sense the energies within it for the first time in what felt like forever. “I’m feeling much better.”


	7. Friendship

“That’s right! I finally got the confirmation!”

The joy in Anzu’s tone was undeniable.

As was the moment of panic on Yugi’s face. It was quickly schooled away, replaced by a bright smile as she congratulated her friend and discussed means for keeping in contact once Anzu moved, but Katsuya had seen it and knew what it was about.

During their time in the World of Memories, they had found out that Item Bearers got one wish when they inherited their item. A sort of repayment for the duty of guarding it. And they had found out what Yugi’s wish had been when she had completed the Puzzle and earned her wish.

Friends that she could rely on, and who could rely on her.

She had been terrified that her friends would leave her after that reveal. That they would hate her for bringing them into her life by some magically binding wish. And though they had reassured her that they had wanted to be her friend before that fateful day.

After all, as Katsuya had pointed out, it took a special kind of someone to stand up to someone almost twice your size, for people who had been pushing you around for months.

He had thought that their reassurances had been enough, but clearly she was still worried about losing them as friends.

But, thankfully, not enough to make Anzu feel guilty about following her dream.

“Wait… Yugi?” Anzu paused in her delight to seize the left hand of the girl in question, “What’s this?”

When Anzu tapped the amethyst ring on Yugi’s ring finger, its owner's eyes glanced towards Katsuya. The dancer questioning her looked to the blonde, who grinned sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair. “I just made her a promise. And maybe one day it’ll be something more…”

There was a pause as Anzu digested that information, then she turned back to Yugi with a grin.

“I’m going to be coming back as your Maid of Honour, got it?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


	8. Eye Contact

Katsuya glanced to his left, where Yugi was contemplating her hand.

Considering the overly inflated ego on the pair of Duelists that had dared to jump Yugi on her way home for a chance at the Queen of Games title, he was surprised that they did not just float away.

Still, they were good practice for his girlfriend, who had been meaning to get back into the competitive Dueling scene and as Yugi turned to look at him and he knew, without her even having to say a word, what she needed him to do on his next turn, he found he did not really care.

They could be as arrogant as they liked, they were never going to be able to beat them.


	9. Greetings

Yugi could not bring herself to let go of Meisa’s hand as her twin stood at her side, in flesh for the first time ever.

Yes, they needed to work out what was going on and why the Pharaoh could not return to the afterlife, but for now they were just going to enjoy the time they had together.

As the platform lowered, depositing them in the mostly evacuated arena, their friends rushed over, pausing to gawk at the girl they had only ever actually seen in the World of Memories and a Virtual Reality game.

“Hey guys?” Yugi grinned at them, pretty sure she was going to keel over at some point soon, but feeling much better then she had been ten minutes ago, thanks to Meisa’s assistance, “You all remember my Anesan, right?”

“Hi.” The wave the Pharaoh gave was awkward, but the moment Anzu realised she could not see through the spirit, her eyes widened and then Yugi lost her grip on her sister as her friend hugged Meisa tightly.

“Hey.” She did not even get to glance in the speaker’s direction before she was swept up into a tight hug against a chest adorned by a blue and white covered t-shirt. “I’m glad you made it. That was mental.”

“Yeah, yeah it was.” Yugi shuddered and wrapped her arms around him, fully aware of just how close to the end of the world they had been. “But we live.”

“Yeah, yeah we do… somehow.”

She adjusted herself so she could see his expression and found him watching her sister with a happy, but wary expression and when she tried to pull away, his hug got tighter, almost like he was afraid that if he let go, he would lose her.

“Easy, koibito.” At her using the term ‘sweetheart’ for the first time, Katsuya startled and looked down at her, “She’s not here to take me away. In fact, somehow, we’ve kidnapped her from the afterlife.”

“What?” He yelped as he released her.

“She can’t leave. She’s stuck here… I have an idea why.” Yugi’s left hand went to the subtly glowing bracelet Kaiba had clamped around her right wrist, “But I need to talk to Kaiba about it before I can confirm it.”

There was a moment as her boyfriend processed that, then he grinned, “So we get to keep her?”

“Yes, Katsuya. For now, at least, you get to keep me.” The Pharaoh let out an amused chuckle, having heard the conversation and trying to get used to the fact that even Yugi was taller than her.

Through the reignited soul bond, Yugi could sense that the bear hug Meisa received for her answer was well received.


	10. Dragon

Watching the world pass by underneath them was both an amazing, and a terrifying thing. Amazing because this was a view of the world that you could only normally get by airplane. Yugi could not believe she had let herself be talked into this when she had missed her train to Tokyo.

“You alright back there?” Katsuya called. She was certain that his voice was meant to be louder, but the sound of the wind rushing past them stole most of the volume away.

“F…Fine.” She stammered back, clinging to him tightly. She did not honestly feel safe, despite the fact she knew their ride would catch her if she fell. It was the lack of seatbelts or anything holding her onto the dragon properly except for her boyfriend’s grip on the black scaled ridges in front of him. “Have you thought about where we’re going to land?”

“It’ll be fine.” The blonde very briefly let go to wave a hand, “People don’t look up. We’ll just circle till there’s somewhere clear to land. It’s not like school’s in session. Besides, it’s this or you miss your interview.”

He had a point. Not that she was entirely sure about her application to Tokyo Polytechnic University. She wanted to go. She wanted to take the Games Design course there. It was one of the best in the country AND her sponsor had already agreed to pay for it.

But it was so far away from Domino, from the shop, from her Jii-san…

And from Katsuya.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright if I…”

“Yuge.” She trailed off at her name. “You’re allowed to follow your dreams. You’ve been wanting to make games, not just play them. I am more than happy to wait for you to come home for the holidays, or heck make a trip like this to come see you. You’re worth it.”

She blushed at the compliment and tightened her grip on him.

“Besides, I’ll be holding down the fort. Someone has to keep Jii-san company while you and Meisa are away.”

“You know she’d stay if…” Yugi trailed off. They had been testing the range ever since Kaiba had managed to pin the former Pharaoh in this world and while she and Meisa could be apart for twelve hours safely, any longer than that and her sister started to feel faded and have trouble maintaining her physical form. This Tokyo trip was going to push it as it was, there was no way that she and her sister could live apart long term while she was studying. As such Meisa was going to have to come to Tokyo with her.

“I know, I know.” Katsuya snorted as the city came into view, “But she can’t and you deserve better than to tie yourself down. Believe me, I’m not mad. Once I’m twenty my juvenile record’ll get cleared then I’ll be travelling myself. I’m going to get so high on the pro-circuit that I’m your biggest rival, just you wait.”

“I look forward to it.” She chuckled, resting her forehead on his back.

“Now, lets see if we can find… ah ha. Thank Kami for Google Maps.”

There was silence between them for a while as her closest friend found somewhere safe to land near the hotel she was going to be staying at overnight and he helped her down, hesitating to release her hand for a moment, before pulling her into a kiss.

“Seriously Yuge. You deserve to go wherever you want to go in life and you’ll kick ass in your interview.” He promised as he let her go, “Let me know if you’re going to need picking up?”

“You’re flying back tonight? It’s a three hour flight!” Her voice squeaked as she stared at him.

“What are you suggesting?”

“Stay overnight with me. We’ll go back together after my interview.”

Katsuya would have argued but his Red Eyes Black Dragon decided that it was the perfect time to vanish and his knees suddenly buckled as exhaustion from having to keep up a summoning for three hours hit like a truck.

“Katsuya!” Yugi darted forward and caught him before he could hit the ground, though she had to brace herself against the extra weight. “That’s it, no arguments. You’re sleeping with me tonight.”

“Is that a promise?” Later the teen would promise that he had been so out of it when he had asked, that he did not remember it, but the blush and stammer from his partner was so adorable, that the little white lie was totally worth it.


	11. The Letter

Katsuya was sweeping the floor of the shop when the postman arrived.

Able to see the stack of letters as the man passed to hand them to Sugoroku, his face lit up when the top letter was not only addressed to him, but the address was written in Yugi’s handwriting.

He hovered by the counter as the elderly shop owner accepted the pile of papers and the postman left, at which point Jii-san handed him the envelope before picking out a similarly addressed letter for himself.

Not that Katsuya was paying attention. He was too busy ripping open his envelope, inside which was a train ticket for him and a letter. A letter inviting him to come to Tokyo to stay with her and Meisa and be her date for a publicity event. One that would start with a show at a theatre and end with a small gathering of upcoming Pro Duelists and some potential sponsors.

His eyes widened as he realised what she was trying to do. There was less than three months to go before his juvenile record was cleared. By getting him into a private event like this, Yugi was hoping to open doors for him to follow his dreams by using her contacts to help him associate with future rivals and potential sponsors.

He clutched the letter to his chest tightly, a huge, dopy grin on his face.

Even living six hours away by train and three by dragon, Yugi was still thinking of him.

“I’m guessing you’ve read your letter.” Sugoroku chuckled, waving his own letter at him, “She asked me if she could borrow you when she phoned last night, but I’ve got a written request here.”

“Can I take the time off?” The nineteen-year-old asked hopefully.

“I don’t know…” The elderly gamer’s tone was teasing, but he felt bad when Katsuya looked like a kicked puppy, “Of course you can. Just do me a favour and give her a hug for me?”

“Of course.” The teen promised, already making plans to arrive at the apartment Yugi and Meisa shared with flowers and chocolates, all for the best girlfriend in the entire world.


	12. Rewrite

The sounds of keys clacking were barely audible under the steady noise of the theme of Goro’s Lair and the much more aggressive sounds of two people punching each other’s lights out, but the frustrated noise that came from the one typing was enough to catch the attention of the game players.

“Sorry Imoto.” Meisa leaned back over the sofa to apologise, only for the sounds of her fighter getting hit three times to make her look back at the screen, just as the game loudly announced “Finish Her!”

“No, no, it’s not you.” Yugi huffed as she leaned back in her chair, rather glad she could not see what sounded like a rather grisly Fatality, as Katsuya’s fighter finished off Meisa’s. “I’m just… I had this written once and now it doesn’t want to work.”

The only guy in the room put down his controller and moved over to his girlfriend, giving her a shoulder massage and able to feel some of the tension drain away. “You’ll get it written again.”

“I know, I just… I know I had it written. I had it all finished on the computers at uni AND I had it backed up on my flash drive.” She let out a frustrated sound, “Because I knew you were arriving today and I didn’t want to be doing this right now.”

“Then someone stole your keys.” He grimaced, as irritated about that as she was. Especially since her flash drive had been attached to those keys and it had meant they had had to wait for Meisa to get home from her part-time job to let them into the apartment.

“And when I went back to the computer lab, I couldn’t log into my account. I’m locked out for some reason.” She huffed, leaning back into his touch. “The lab tech said I’d messed up my password too many times and they couldn’t fix it till tomorrow, but I KNOW I didn’t mess it up earlier.”

Which meant someone had tried to get into Yugi’s school account. Not that they knew why, but Katsuya could guess. It was no secret that she had managed to get into Tokyo Polytechnic on a scholarship and needed to keep her grades up if she was going to be able to stay.

There were a couple of other students who did not think she belonged there and that she had only gotten on the course because she was famous. From what he had been told, they had been going out of their way to mention it at every opportunity they could. Yugi might not suspect it, but he had a feeling they had tried to access her account and delete some of her work, so she would get failing grades and have to go home.

“I’m sorry Katsuya, I’d have waited till Monday, but this is due before midnight.” Yugi apologised, “I should have sent it off earlier but I thought I had a copy with me. It would have only taken five minutes to upload it.”

“Hey, I get it.” And he did, both the fact that this was really important to Yugi and that it was possible that someone was trying to screw Yugi out of the grade she deserved. “It’s okay. You get what you need to get done done, and in the meantime I’m going to continue to crush your sister at video games.”

“You only won that round because I got distracted!” The reborn Pharaoh protested from her place on the couch.

Yugi rolled her eyes with a grin, leaned back and pulled Katsuya down into a kiss, “Thank you. And be nice to Anesan.”

“I’m always nice.” He kissed her again, “Now, get back to work.”

“Yes sir.” With snarky comment and a chuckle, Yugi turned back to her computer, pausing for a moment to listen to the sounds of the next bout being set up before she dove back into writing her essay.


	13. Blog-o-sphere

‘Kame no Kyuden’, aka ‘Turtle Palace’, was a small blog Yugi had started back when she had made a dumb mistake at her first publicity event and opened herself up to challenges from people across the globe. Having it online allowed her to organise Challengers, publically announce which dates she would be available to duel, and, occasionally, put up videos. Videos on things like how to start dueling, new cards she had found in boosters, archetypes she found pretty cool and how to run them, and how the competitive Dueling scene worked.

It had been something she had been unsure of to start with because she was not used to people wanting to hear what she had to say, but it had allowed her to organise her life in a way she had not been able to when she had been getting swarmed at school by Duelists who wanted to fight her for her title and for the Egyptian God Cards.

Plus it was occasionally nice to hear from commentors that her videos had helped them understand the game better and encouraged them to try out a new deck archetype, or helped them with first tournament nerves.

Today however someone had contacted ‘Kame no Kyuden’ with a serious issue and Yugi paced the living room of her apartment as she tried to work out what she should do about it.

The sounds of the front door opening and Katsuya chuckling at something made her pause for just a moment, realising she now had people she could talk through the mess with.

“Hey Imoto, I picked you up a…” Her twin sister paused when she saw the look on Yugi’s face. “What’s wrong?”

Katsuya, who had been following behind her with the shopping bags, considered the pair of them for a moment, then went and dropped the bags in the kitchen, putting the chilled things away, before coming back in, “Okay, what’s happened?”

“So I think I’ve found a problem.” The Queen of Games admitted as she paced the floor again, “You remember how Zorc shattered the seal when he possessed Diva?”

Katsuya straightened, having not known that part, but Meisa grimaced and nodded, “I managed to lock away the worst of the creatures like him behind what was left of it when I came back, but the rest of the Shadows still spread out into the world.”

“Wait, the seal shattered?” Katsuya demanded, his sharp tone making Yugi pause midstride, “I thought it would only do that if you died.”

Yugi opened her mouth. Then closed her mouth and looked away.

She remembered that moment far too well. The moment she had reached for her deck, willing to carry on the fight against the demon trying to break free, no matter what it took, only for her body to give up on her.

She remembered the agonising pain in her chest as her heart had stopped.

She remembered the sounds of shattering glass and the way the world had, as her eyes had begun to close, looked like it was cracking, revealing darkness underneath.

And she remembered the moment she had been enveloped in a bright golden light that had healed her and brought her back from what should have been death.

“Shit. Shit!” Her boyfriend swore, slamming his hand into the back of the couch. “You… you nearly?”

“Technically I did.” Yugi admitted slowly, “But Meisa’s return healed the damage I’d taken and the sheer power she brought with her restarted my heart.”

“You never said.” There was an anger there that she had partly expected.

“It didn’t matter. We won. There was no need to worry you.” Meisa grimaced, eyes flickering to her twin, who was fiddling with the KC bracelet that was still clamped around her right wrist, the key for which lay on a chain around the Pharaoh’s neck, avoiding looking at him.

“Yuge died, like actually died, and there was no need to worry us?”

“Katsuya!” The trembling of Yugi’s voice broke through the anger, “There were more important things than me going on. You and Amane nearly died too, remember? Things had to be sorted and honestly, by the time everything WAS settled, I didn’t want to bring it up because the memory hurt too much and it didn’t matter. We’d won.”

“Technically we’ve done dead before too.” Meisa’s tone was cold as she stared at their closest friend, reminding him that he had technically been dead during Battle City for a very short time.

That made him pause and sigh, closing his eyes against the flash of memory of how much that moment, when his own vessel had failed him, had hurt.

“Alright, alright,” He huffed, looking between the two Mutous, “I’m assuming there’s a reason you’re bringing this up now though.”

“Remember how much easier it was to call up Red Eyes after the fight with Diva?” At Yugi’s question, Katsuya nodded, “Other people have worked out how to do it too.”

“Summon Red Eyes?!” The startled yelp he let out made Yugi laugh.

“No, but summon their own personal Ka beasts. I… It would probably be easier to show you.”

She started the video she had been sent, which showed a young woman around their age, calling up a Madolche Bapple, an adorable cream puff of a sheep, and hugging it, before the someone behind the camera turned it so they were looking into it instead and asked, “Hey Mutou Yugi-san? You used to be caught up in all the supposedly fake magical events, since they’re apparently not fake, how do we learn to control this?”

Meisa let out a sharp breath and Katsuya cussed quietly.

“I have to respond to this.” Yugi grimaced, “And I don’t know how. Because if this is a thing that is happening in other places, I need to teach people. I’m the only one who can.”

“We can too, but it would be our responsibility.” Meisa nodded her agreement with her assessment.

Katsuya paused and then patted the former Pharaoh on the shoulder and hugged his girlfriend. “We’ll work it out, don’t worry.”

“There’s people waking up with Shadow magic and we shouldn’t worry?” Yugi stared up at him, eyes wide.

“Hey, you are the brightest, bravest girl I’ve ever met, and between Mei and I you’ve got pretty decent back up.” He grinned more confidently than he felt as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears, out of the way of her eyes, “Between the three of us, we’ve got this. Don’t worry.”

As he planted a kiss on her cheek, he felt her relax in his arms and was glad he had managed to say the right thing.


	14. Sounds

The steady pounding of a heavy bass, loud guitars and a muffled voice coming through the wall was loud enough that it woke the pair who were curled into each other.

Katsuya shifted slightly, trying to work out where the noise was coming from, eliciting a grumble from his bed mate, who curled into him tighter, her hand resting against his chest. “It’s just next door, this is the sixth time this month.”

“Want me to go yell at them for you?”

“No you’re warm.” The response made him chuckle and run a hand through the hair of his barely covered companion, who leaned into his touch, “Besides, Meisa already dealt with it.”

“What do you…” He trailed off as the speakers from the stereo next door let out a horrific squeal and then cut out entirely, followed by a loud angry voice. “What did she do?”

“Penalty Game.” Yugi mumbled, already beginning to doze off again, “Any time the music gets above a certain volume, the speakers short out.”

“I thought Penalties only affected the mind?” Katsuya frowned slightly, “Not physical things.”

She let out an amused noise, “She’s a lot stronger than she was before she left. I’m sure she’d tell you how it works if you ask. I’m just happy to be able to sleep.”

Which was a valid state of mind, he allowed as he felt her breathing evening out as she slipped back into sleep.

It just meant he was never going to irritate Meisa.


	15. Holding Hands

Yugi was quiet as she waited at the train station, hand in hand with Katsuya.

Last night had been a roaring success. Katsuya had managed to make a whole bunch of contacts and even proved himself in a duel against one of the ProLeague’s top ten duelists.

Today, however sucked.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll see each other soon.” Her best friend promised as the train to take him back to Domino pulled into the station. “You’re home for the break, right?”

“Right.” She sighed, still hesitating to let go of his hand, having enjoyed having him living with her and Meisa, even if it had only been for a few days.

She had not realised how much she missed his constant presence around the house until she had had it once more.

Katsuya brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, “I’ll miss you too, Yuge.”

At her blush, he released her hand and picked up his bags, making it onto the train just before the doors slid closed.

As the vehicle pulled away from the station, Yugi wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

It was just another month or so until she would see him again. And when she did, she would get to see Jii-san too, which was going to be awesome.

She just needed to hang on till then.


	16. Interview

Katsuya was excited as he headed for the sponsorship interview at with the Manjoume Group, a politically and finically powerful group of corporations that he had made contacts with at the publicity event he had attended with Yugi.

Literally the day after his twentieth birthday, when his juvenile criminal records had cleared, the Manjoume Group had contacted him requesting an interview. While he had a couple of other, fall back, options, the promises the letter from this particular sponsorship choice, had made them the one he wanted to grab hold of the most.

Upon arrival he was guided to a meeting room, where two young men, around his own age, entered. He rose and bowed and got shallow bows in return. The disrespect rankled slightly, but he tried to push it away by reminding himself that he was here on their turf.

“I am Manjoume Chosaku, this is Manjoume Shoji.” The elder of the brothers introduced the pair of them, making Katsuya sit up straighter.

He had done his research. He was not dealing with any old employee of the group. These were two of the three brothers at the top of the pile. The third, Manjoume Jun, was an aspiring ProDuelist whose duel records were rather impressive.

“We’ve brought you here to discuss the options of a sponsorship contract with the Manjoume Group.” Shoji explained as he slid a file across the table, “If you would be so kind as to sign this first, however, it would be appreciated.”

Katsuya frowned and read through it, refusing to sign anything that he had not double checked first. It looked like a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent him talking about anything that happened while he was on Manjoume Group grounds or risk a huge fine and many repercussions that would basically end his ProDueling career before it began. “Can I ask why the hush hush?”

“Sign it and you’ll find out.”

He read through it again and then did so with a huff before sliding the file back to the two brothers.

“As you saw from the letter we sent with the date and time of this meeting, we are willing to offer you a very large sponsorship deal that includes travel, accommodation, meals and medical insurance,” Chosaku informed him, a smirk on his face that made Katsuya wonder if he had wandered into a shark’s lair, “We would just require you to win eighty percent of your matches.”

“As well as do one other thing.” Shoji added.

“What other thing?” The duelist’s eyes narrowed. Eighty percent of his matches was something he was sure he could do, but something about these two were setting off his asshole radar.

“You and the Queen of Games share a special bond don’t you?” Chosaku’s question was less a question and more a statement. Katsuya nodded, since it was no secret that him and Yugi had been seeing each other for years. “And you’re a very good friend of her sister?”

“Why does it matter?”

“As our sponsored Duelist you would be able to reach the very top of the league, we see you going far. But we don’t want Mutou Yugi or Mutou Meisa competing in the league. If you are willing to… encourage them to seek other angles of competitive Duel Monsters, we would make it worth your while.”

“You want me to put my girlfriend and her sister off of a game that makes them happy?”

“Not necessarily put them off entirely, but redirect their energies and do what you need to, to prevent their entry. After all, Jonouchi, if they’re competing, no one else need bother showing up. What is the point to sponsoring someone who will lose over and over again to the same people? If a deck goes missing, or an…accident happens that makes them miss matches, well… things happen.”

Katsuya took a moment to process. Then he scowled, “I’m sorry for wasting your time, but I won’t sabotage Yugi or Meisa just to get rich.”

“You realise that if you turn our offer down, we could ensure you don’t get sponsored by anyone else?” Shoji’s tone turned threatening. All it did was make Katsuya dig his heels in.

“Force me to choose between the girl I want to marry and fame and I’ll take family every time. The sponsorship isn’t worth it.” He hissed out before pausing at the feel of fire in his chest and darkness echoing in his voice. His Ka beast was responding to his emotions and he needed to calm down before the dragon made an appearance. “Now, if this meeting is over, I have four other sponsors who want to interview me.”

“Good day.”

Katsuya stalked from the room and headed out as fast as possible, angry at what had just happened and now worried it would happen with other sponsors too.

The sound of his phone ringing as he took a walk to try and calm down, made him jump and when he saw the caller ID said ‘Yugi’ he nearly did not pick up. He did not want to snap at her and it was not like he could tell her what had happened anyway.

When his phone rang a second time however, revealing the same name, he picked up with a sigh, “Hey Yuge.”

“You okay? What’s wrong? You sound mad.” The concern in his partner’s tone made him very aware he had made the right choice. And reminded him that he was never calmer than when Yugi was with him.

“Are you in class today?” He asked her, making up his mind. When he received a negative he let out a relieved breath, “I’m coming over. Yes, by dragon. See you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The downside of the pairing...


	17. Connections

“The train now standing at platform three is the…”

Yugi did not hear the rest of the announcement as she bolted across the bridge, suitcase in hand, duel disk strapped to her arm. Her twin raced along behind her as they headed for the correct platform before the train back to Domino departed.

They were just reaching the bottom of the stairs when the carriage doors slid shut and though Yugi dropped the luggage and darted across the platform, managing to pound on the ‘open doors’ button twice, the train pulled away, leaving the Mutou twins stranded at the station.

“Damnit.” Meisa grumbled as Yugi stared at the departing vehicle. “Is there another train tonight?”

“No.” The spiritually younger, but physically older of the Mutou twins shook her head as she grabbed up her suitcase and slumped down onto the bench. “That was the last one. We’d have made it if it wasn’t for that…”

“Jerk?” The former Pharaoh offered as she sat down next to her.

Yugi just nodded, in agreement that it fit. It was not often anymore, that she had someone who refused to pay attention to the times and dates that she posted up on ‘Kame no Kyuden’ and refused to let her pass without a duel. This one had come equipped with his own cheering section, who had blocked hers and Meisa’s path until a duel had taken place.

If it had not been for him, they would have made the last train of the day and been home tonight, rather than having to miss most of the first day of the holidays.

“Sorry.” She sighed as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, “If he hadn’t…”

“It’s not your fault, Imoto.” Her sister huffed as she leaned back to look up at the night sky, taking a moment to calm herself before considering options.

“I’ll ring Jii-san, let him know not to stay up.” Yugi grumbled as she pulled up the contact listing for the flat above the Kame Game Shop.

“I can cover the cost for tomorrow.” The former Pharaoh promised, glad that the game shop job she had taken to widen her social pool and get more used to operating in the modern era without her friends and family around, had her last week.

“So…” Yugi trailed off when the phone was picked up. “Hi?”

“Yuge? You on the train?” It was Katsuya and she was both glad to hear him and nervous about how he was going to react to what she had to say.

“We missed it. We were already late because of my lecturers and then a guy wouldn’t let me pass till I dueled him.” She admitted slowly, “We’re gonna have to wait till tomorrow to travel.”

“One sec…” There were muffled voices for a few minutes, then the line cut off. Before Yugi could ring back, her own phone rang. The caller id told her it was Katsuya, who before she could even ask what was going on, was asking, “Can you get to the roof of your apartment block?”

“You’re not…”

“I can be there in three hours.” He confirmed that he was, in fact, planning to fly over on his Red Eyes Black Dragon.

“Katsuya.” Yugi smiled softly, appreciating the suggestion and the fact that he was willing to put himself out to come get them, but… “The last time flew over and back again, you were exhausted the next day. You’ll be too tired to enjoy the festival if you come and get us.”

“Seeing you would be worth it.” Her boyfriend promise, eliciting a blush from her, “I don’t mind exhausting myself if it means you get home today.”

“I…” Yugi hesitated.

On the one hand she really wanted to be home. Tokyo was nice but she missed her friends, her grandfather and the shop. She had been looking forward to meeting up with everyone, especially Anzu, who had come home for a visit, at the cherry blossom festival tomorrow.

On the other, the home sickness was something that she was going to have to deal with if she got a job in the games industry, because unless she wanted to work for Kaiba Corp or go it as an indie developer, she would have to live away from home because there were no other game companies working out of her hometown. Plus if Katsuya came to get them, he would not be able to enjoy it either.

“Yuge. This isn’t me asking.” Katsuya interrupted her chain of thoughts, “This is me telling you, be on the roof in three hours. I’m picking you and Meisa up and we’re getting you guys home tonight and I am getting my Yugi cuddles.”

“Thanks Katsu.” She sighed, well aware that when her boyfriend got a thing into his head, trying to make him change his mind was like trying to stop the tides.

“I’ve missed you.” He admitted quietly as she heard the sounds of a door opening on the other end of the line. “This is harder than I thought it would be.”

“The long distance thing? Yeah I know. I feel it too.” She admitted as she stood to head back to the apartment, her twin sister putting her hand on her shoulder, offering support. “But it’ll be worth it.”

“Yeah and we’re tough enough to handle it.” The bounce was back in his tone, “And besides, we’ll see each other soon. I’m gunna end the call, remember to be on the roof.”

“Hey, Katsuya?” She heard his breath hitch slightly, “Thank you.”

“Hey, I love you. You’re worth it.”

The call ended but Yugi stared at the phone, a small smile on her face. It wasn’t often that he told her that he loved her, which just made it all the more valuable when he did.

“Hey Imoto, Earth to Imoto.” A gentle nudge from her twin sister startled her. “I have an idea on how we can help so Katsuya’s not completely out of it tomorrow, if you want to hear it on the way home?”

“I am all ears.”


	18. Cleaning

“Katsuya, if you could start mopping, we can get the last of the dusting done and we’ll be all clean for the New Year.”

“No problem!” The blonde grinned as he dodged around Meisa, bucket in hand and mop held over his shoulder, only smack his girlfriend in the face with wet end of the cleaning implement.

The young woman in question spluttered and backed away quickly, bumping into the case behind her and only not falling over because he grabbed her arm. “Oops sorry Yuge.”

She waved it off and used her dusting cloth to dry her face before turning back towards the shelves she had been working on.

Or trying to but bumping into Katsuya’s water bucket, causing it to tip and spill all over her. The startled squeal she let out caught the attention of her Jii-san and Meisa, who watched as she wrung her t-shirt out. The water dripping to the floor as Katsuya nervously apologised again.

Yugi paused, considered for a moment, then stripped off her shirt, leaving her in just a bra and shorts, dumped said t-shirt on Katsuya’s head and informed him, with a huge grin that, “I’m gunna get you back for that.”

“I look forward to it.” His retort earned him a laugh as she retreated up the stairs to dry off and get changed.


	19. Dread

Every single Monday and Thursday since Yugi had gone to Tokyo Polytechnic University, she had rung up at 9pm to talk about how things were going, share news or even just say hello. Even during the summer when she did intern work for Industrial Illusions Tokyo as payment towards the staff apartment they were letting her and Meisa use, rather than forking out for paying rent on an expensive place, when she was working late, she took her break at that time so she could make the call.

So when, despite the fact Katsuya had sent her text message saying he had some big news to share, 9pm came and went, her boyfriend started to get nervous.

He knew it was dumb and that her phone could simply be out of charge, but far too many years of murder attempts, soul stealing and end of the world plots had his mind automatically jumping to the worst case scenarios.

She could be hurt, or worse. She could have run into someone with magic and gotten into a life or death duel. She could have been kidnapped. It would not have been the first time.

Zorc could have come back and tried to take his revenge again and she could be…

The phone started ringing and he picked it up quickly, “Kame Game Shop, Jonouchi Katsuya speaking.”

“Hey Katsuya.” It was Meisa and she sounded exhausted, having probably just gotten home from a long day at work, “Just to let you know, if found Imoto snoring on the sofa when I got home. Her final major project was due today and she hadn’t slept yet when I left for work, so I’m not sure if I should wake her or not.”

“Is her project folder gone?” His concern switched to an entirely different angle. He knew how hard Yugi had been working to develop the small game that was her final project and if she had missed the deadline, everything would have been for nothing.

“Yeah,” Relief hit him hard at the former Pharaoh’s confirmation, “But I’m going to wake her just in case she moved it rather than handing it in.”

He waited nervously for a few moments as he heard the muffled sounds of Meisa trying to wake her sleeping twin and getting groaned at for it. Then there was the sound of two, almost identical voices talking, before the phone was picked up again.

“Katsu?” Yugi mumbled sleepily, “Sorry, I fell asleep.”

“It’s okay. You all handed in?”

“Yeah. Got my Dissertation defence in a couple weeks’ time, but the project’s in.” She yawned, “I think I fixed the last of the bugs. What was it you wanted to tell me?”

“I have some good news.” He offered, “I’ve got a sponsor.”

“Really?” He could hear her perk up a little, “That’s great! Who are they?”

“Would you believe Kaiba Corp?” The startled noise from the other end of the phone made him grin, “Their sponsored duelist program is handled by someone other than a Kaiba so they accepted me on merits, rather than throwing my application straight out.”

“I’m glad you’ve managed to get sponsored. I’m surprised that it took so long.” The relief in her tone made him grimace. He could not tell her why he had been unable to get sponsored, despite all of her best efforts. Not with the Non-Disclosure Agreement he had signed when he had interviewed with the Manjoume Group still in play. They had kept their word on getting him blacklisted and had not been until Kaiba Corp had picked him up that anyone had wanted to interview him. The four he had had lined up had supposedly ‘filled the space’.

Still…

“Hey, I only seriously started applying a year ago. That’s not bad. Okay I missed a whole season, but it could be worse.” He tried to offer as reassurance.

“True.” Yugi allowed. “You’re gunna be okay though, right? I know how much you love Kaiba.”

The sarcasm in her tone was rich and he sighed, “Honestly, at this point, it’s either Kaiba Corp or give up on my ProDuelist dreams and what else do I have to fall back on?”

“Me.”

He paused, wondering what she meant.

“I want you to succeed in your dreams, but if they fall through? I’ll be here, you know that right?”

He smiled ruefully. He knew, he had always known. But he did not want to be a burden on her. Nor did he want to end up a jobless bum like his father. He wanted to be putting towards the finances and supporting their family together.

Still it was good to hear it from her because there were time he honestly did not feel good enough for her, for her family and for everything she was bringing to this relationship.

“I know, Yuge.” He promised. “But…”

“Hey, you’re going to be amazing. Just don’t punch your sponsor okay?”

“It has been years since I last tried to punch Kaiba.” He huffed in his own defence, noting the fact her voice was slurring, suggesting she really should go back to bed, “Go rest, I’ll let you know when I have more info.”

“Need to talk to Jii-san or he’ll think I don’t love him anymore.”

Katsuya chuckled at that finally allowed Jii-san, who had been hovering for the last few minutes, to take the phone.


	20. Jewellery

He felt out of place as he examined the cases, trying to work out exactly what he was looking for.

Next week he was heading over to Tokyo with Jii-san to watch Yugi’s graduation and there was something he wanted to do afterwards.

But if he was going to do it, he needed to decide on what he was going to use for it.

“Can I help you, sir?” The assistant asking did not seem too amused by his appearance in her store as she looked him up and down.

“I uhh…” He hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and smiled ruefully, reminding himself that he was not the waste of space that the woman thought he was. He was actually here with money to buy something. “I’m after a ring.”

“Okay.” He grimaced at her tone, which sounded like she was already exasperated. “Well we have a lot of rings, what were you looking for specifically.”

He opened his mouth to make a snarky comment, then closed it, realising that in his nervousness he was being the sort of customer that he hated. The awkward ones that came into a game shop and when asked if they needed help, responded ‘I’m looking for a game’ and then six hours later bought the first game you had shown them.

“I’m asking my girlfriend to marry me next week.” He elaborated, “I’m looking for an engagement ring, preferably diamond.”

The woman’s face softened, “Congratulations, I can certainly help. Do you know her ring size? And what sort of budget do you have?”

As he explained the details, having saved up for years for this very moment, the woman led him over to a case that held stunning rings that were still in his price range. The diamonds were not as big as the ones in the case he had been looking at, but as he examined the jewellery, his eyes rested on a diamond ring whose primary jewel was complimented by a golden band that was inset with purple and red jewels that alternated as they went.

“How much for that one?”

Hundreds of thousands of yen and thirty minutes later, Katsuya left the store with a black ring box wrapped in a purple ribbon, tucked into his pocket.


	21. Magic

Katsuya was excited as he hung up his suit for the next day.

They were travelling to Tokyo tonight to crash at Yugi’s apartment overnight and then tomorrow his girlfriend would graduate and, hopefully, become his fiancée.

He paused as he heard something clatter to the floor down the hallway.

“Katsuya!!”

At the panic and urgency in the voice of the man who had taken him, he rushed down the hallway to find Doctor Mutou was staring at the news on the television.

News that was reporting an attack on Tokyo Polytechnic. An attack that was preceded by a sweeping darkness that ate away at people and buildings, brought dangerous creatures with it, had been stopped by a few Duelists who had managed to summon their own creatures and which had caused many people to be rushed to hospital.

An attack that had happened hours ago.

Katsuya checked his phone, hoping one of the Mutou sisters had tried to get in contact with him and paling when he realised that there was no signs of a call or text.

“I tried to call them, but it goes straight to answer phone.” Sugoroku’s voice shook, knowing what Katsuya was thinking.

The young man’s stomach jumped to his throat. Yugi and Meisa always had their phones on them. If they could not reach one, the other was always available. For both their phones to be out of action suggested that either the incident had caused the signal to get fouled up as people called to confirm the safety of their loved ones, or something had happened to them that had damaged their phones…

Katsuya’s hand went to his pocket, where a certain box rested, ready to be opened tomorrow, as fear and concern flooded through its owner. His world felt like it was crumbling around him.

“I… I’m going to Tokyo. Now.” He stammered, grabbing up his jacket and heading for the door.

“Wait.” Sugoroku called.

“But…”

“I’m their next of kin. I’ll be able to ring around the hospitals and find out if they were brought in. Then we can go together.” The logic was sound and while it caused the Dragon Duelist to pace up and down the room, when Doctor Mutou successfully found where his granddaughters had been taken when they had collapsed post-fight, it meant that he could research what the building looked like so he would be able to find it from the air.

Once he had called it up on google maps, he turned to the elderly gamer. “Ready to go?”

“Ready when you are.”


	22. Eavesdroppers

Katsuya was fuming as he waited outside the hospital.

As official family of the Mutou twins, Jii-san had been allowed to go in and see the girls, but despite how long he had been dating Yugi and how long he had been part of the household, because he was not officially, legally part of the Mutou family, and because there was an official investigation going on, he had been made to wait downstairs.

“…we even supposed to report this?” Katsuya glanced towards the speaker, noting that it was a police officer who was talking to his colleague as they came out of the doors and headed for the smoking area. He followed carefully behind, not close enough to catch their attention, but close enough to hear what they were talking about. “There’s not exactly a law against trying to eradicate your enemies with magic. And the guy who started it…”

The second officer shuddered, “I mean from the reports of the witnesses, the building collapsed on him after his own creature weakened it, I’m pretty sure that’s death by misadventure, rather than anything else if it helps?”

“I guess, but Mutou Meisa seemed so… calm. Like this wasn’t the first time she’s dealt with something like this.”

“I don’t think she has the energy to freak out right now, plus she’s probably worried about her Imoto. You heard how bad it got. I wouldn’t think too much on it.”

Katsuya’s hands balled into fists. He should have been here.

“Still their room’s secure and no one will think to look for them and the other two Duelists on the seventh floor.” The first officer sighed, “So if…”

The blonde did not hear the rest of the conversation. He was already heading into the facility, making sure he waited until the receptionist was distracted before slipping past her and heading for the elevators.

As he hit the button for the seventh floor he leaned against the wall, trying not to feel like he had let his girls down. If he had been here, he could have helped them in whatever fight they had been in…

His hands dropped to his sides and his eyes widened with horror as he realised that there was no longer a lump in his pocket.

He patted himself down frantically, panic setting in as it occurred to him that he had felt something slip when he had been getting himself and Jii-san here, which meant that the ring he had spent so much on, and which would have been perfect for the girl he wanted to marry him, was lost somewhere between here and Domino.

As the door opened with a quiet bing, he felt like kicking himself. Still there were more important things then his loss right now. He slipped out into the darkened corridors and listened, trying to find out where the sound of voices was coming from.

Narrowing it down to a room down the hallway which still had its lights on, he slipped down the corridor, narrowly avoiding getting caught by a nurse as she came out of one of the other rooms, to find Meisa, awake and talking quietly to Jii-san. Yugi, asleep or unconscious in the bed next to her.

He hurried past the other two beds in the room, which he assumed held the other two duelists the police had mentioned, and hugged Meisa tightly before asking her, “Where the bloody hell is your phone?”

“Don’t know.” She admitted, her hand going to the key necklace she wore, that she had had to fight with the doctors to get returned to her, “Also hello to you too.”

“Hey. You okay?” He asked, his shoulders sinking.

“Been better.” She shrugged and winced, “Woke up here, so I haven’t had a chance to heal us yet.”

“You know if Yuge’s okay?”

There was a slight grimace as she glanced over to her twin, “Imoto got it worse than I did, but she should be okay once she’s…”

A soft, pained moan came from the other bed and Katsuya shot over as pain darkened amethyst eyes opened. They blinked at him for a moment, then relief set in. “Oh good, we did win.”

He scooped his girlfriend up into a tight cuddle briefly but a pained yelp made him let go, allowing her to slump back into the pillows. He was about to back off when Yugi grabbed his wrist. “Stay?”

“Sorry.” He sat down with her, guilt on his features as he apologised. “I should have…”

“It’s okay, you weren’t here.” She tried to reassure him.

“No but…” He hesitated. Without that ring he was hesitant to say that he would always be there when he could.

“If we could have rung you, I know you would have been with us in a heartbeat.” Yugi pulled herself up using the support from his arm, trembling in pain, “Don’t blame yourself Katsu.”

“But…” He was startled into silence by her kissing him deeply.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Her voice was quiet but the look in her eyes suggested she had seen something that she had not liked.

“Yuge?”

“Shadow Game.” She shuddered and led back, closing her eyes for a moment. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“How can I not?” He asked, causing her to look at him. “You’re my sun, you know that?”

“And you are full of cheese.”

The chuckle and smile the cheesy comment earned him made the bad night just a little bit better.


	23. It's a Sign

He knew it was hopeless and that he was probably in the wrong rice paddy, but he remembered being over rice paddies when he had felt something fall so if he was going to find the engagement ring he had bought for Yugi it was going to be in a rice paddy somewhere between Tokyo and Domino. That this was the thirteenth field of rice he had checked since he had lost it, did not matter to him. He still needed to try.

He just hoped no one noticed that…

“Oi!” He winced and straightened up to find a woman in her late fifties was glaring at him, “What are you doing in my field?”

“S…sorry.” He internally sighed, aware this meant his search time was up, “I dropped a ring box containing an engagement ring and I was hoping…”

“What does it look like?” The woman paused to consider him carefully, a wary, slightly mistrustful look on her face.

“Diamond, with amethyst and ruby set in to the band.” He explained, noting her expression shift into one of recognition, “It was in a black box with a purple ribbon?”

He could not make out what the woman murmured under her breath, but she turned and gestured for him to follow. “You’re a lucky man. My husband was out here two mornings ago, found your ring box busted up by the paddy. The ring wasn’t that far away.”

Katsuya could have danced with joy at the sheer dumb luck as she led him back to an old looking building that was clearly a family home from the toys that were strewn around outside. He followed her inside, where she made him wait in the living room.

There, inside the room, was a shelf of board games that he could not help but peruse as he waited until a cough from behind him made him startle and turn around. There, stood behind him was a man about the same age as the woman who had spoken to him.

“Ah, you’re the young man who lost the ring?”

“Yes sir.” Katsuya bowed deeply. “Thank you for finding it.”

“You’re welcome.” The elder gentleman bowed back to him respectfully, “I see you like games.”

“My girlfriend is a games addict.” Katsuya admitted, somewhat loath to mention Yugi’s name even if this couple was lovely, just in case they tried to charge him for the ring because of her fame, “We grew close through playing together.”

He was startled when the man laughed, “A good base. I met Yukiko through playing Go. She was successfully ruining everyone in a ten mile radius. You can get to know a person’s true nature through games so I could see she was an honest person, if a little competitive.”

“How long have you been together?”

“Just over thirty years now.” The man grinned at him, “And it’s been an adventure and a half. Trust me, a game playing girl will never leave you bored.”

Katsuya chuckled, but did not get to respond when Yukiko re-entered the room, busted box in one hand, small red and gold bag in the other. She handed him the bag and he opened it carefully before tipping the ring out into his hand.

Relief and upset warred within him when he realised that while the diamond had survived the fall, as had most of the ring, a couple of rubies and one of the amethysts had fallen out of their settings.

“If I can give you some advice, young man?” Yukiko asked. When Katsuya nodded, she smiled softly, “Your girl won’t care about some missing gems if she’s really the one. Koji here asked me to marry him with one of those silly American candy rings.”

“You still said yes.” Koji chuckled, winking at Katsuya, who felt a little better at the words.

“Thank you. So much.” He put the ring back in the bag and clutched it tightly to his chest.

“You’re welcome.” Yukiko smiled, “Now go give your girl that ring before you lose it again.”

“Yes mam.”


	24. Good Vibes

Katsuya had never been prouder as he watched his Yugi cross the stage to accept her diploma.

Tokyo Polytechnic had been kind enough to allow her and any other student who had been injured in the incident and missed graduation, to graduate with the summer students in the fall, and the bright grin on her face as she accepted the document and shook hands with the Dean seemed to light up the room. At least in his eyes.

“You know what she’s planning to do now?” He heard Jii-san ask Meisa, who let out a small huff.

“She’s not sure. She’s been offered a more permanent position at Industrial Illusions Tokyo, but she misses the shop like mad. I think she’ll go home for a couple of weeks to make up her mind first.”

Katsuya glanced down at the red and gold bag in his hands, hoping that no matter what she decided about her job prospects, he was a choice she was willing to make.

As hats went up in the air and then the alumni filed out, the trio made their way down to the sakura tree near the back of the gardens, where they had agreed to meet Yugi. She was there in minutes, grin still firmly in place as she gave her diploma to her Jii-san to read.

Once her hands were free, Katsuya kissed her.

“Hey, I’m really proud of you.” He promised, tucking a strand of her blonde fringe behind her ear, before getting down on one knee and holding out the bag.

“Katsu?” Yugi breathed, blushing as she took it and opened it gently, extracting the ring before staring at it, and then him.

“I love you. I have loved you for years and I always will.” He promised, taking her hand, the hand with the ring in, in his, “Will you do me the honour of allowing me to become your husband?”

“I… of course!” Yugi yelped, not even noticing the missing gems and catching the attention of her course mates and every other graduate within hearing range. As he slipped her promise ring off and slipped the engagement ring on, he became aware of clapping from nearby families, but he did not care as the moment the ring was in place, his fiancée was kissing him passionately and the entire world melted away.

He had what he wanted most in the world and that was all that mattered.


	25. Words

“You know, this is it. You’ll have to be responsible from now on.” Honda teased as he stood at Katsuya’s side. “No more wild parties.”

“I believe, if you’ll remember, most of those wild parties were held by your cousin and we just had to clean up the mess.” The young man being teased, dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and red tie murmured back, “Besides, she’s said nothing against wild parties.”

“True, true but…”

Honda cut off as the doors were opened by Meisa, allowing Jii-san and the most stunning creature Katsuya had ever seen in his life to enter the room.

Yugi, dressed in a stunning black and gold kimono, hair loose and trailing down her back, walked forward, arm linked with her grandfather’s, her two best friends, Meisa and Anzu, walking behind her, both supporting and protecting her.

The radiant smile she was giving him as she approached the altar made Katsuya feel like the luckiest man in the world. Once she reached them, Jii-san gave her arm to Katsuya, who bowed to him, understanding that for this man to give him his granddaughter, there was a massive amount of respect and trust.

The words of the ceremony blurred together. If he was asked later, he would not be able to remember them as he spoke where he was meant to and listened where he was not.

The only words that mattered to him where as follows…

“I now pronounce you man and wife.”


	26. Puzzle

Riding high on his latest ProLeague win, Mutou Katsuya was buzzing as he arrived back at the flat he shared with his wife and sister-in-law, in Domino, not that far from the Kame Game Shop, where Meisa spent her days happily, while Yugi worked as an Environmental Artist for Kaiba Corp.

As he came into the living room, he found his wife polishing the golden Puzzle that had been the cause of so many adventures and misadventures. The other items were spread on the table in front of her, shining like they had been freshly polished too.

There were days when he regretted having the Millennium Items in the house. They had caused so many issues over the years that they made him slightly nervous. However Yugi was their guardian, assisted by Meisa and while the formerly nameless Pharaoh was willing to take them to the afterlife with her when she went, no one wanted to usher her on before she was ready.

Not again.

Concern broke through his joy as he watched Yugi turn the Puzzle in her hands, making sure she had not missed a spot. Why had she gotten them out of the safe? Had she had to use them? Had he missed another magical event?

“Yuge?”

Her expression was odd as she looked up at him. Not sad, but not happy either. It was more an unsure, slightly nervous expression.

“Hey Katsu.” She put the Puzzle down slowly.

“You okay?” He asked, coming to sit next to her, “Did something happen that you needed the items for?”

“No, no. They don’t even have their full power anymore, not since we sent the citizens of Kul Elna on. I just… I was thinking about the past.” She shook her head, “And the future.”

“Oh?” He asked, leaning into her gently and felt her press back.

“If you had asked me a decade ago, if I had any idea my life would be like this, I wouldn’t have believed it.” She let out a soft chuckle, “It’s… incredible.”

“Everything has come together.” He agreed, “Just like the pieces of the Puzzle.”

“Took as long too.” Yugi laughed, smiling for a brief moment, then the nervousness came back, “But the image isn’t quite complete.”

“Oh.” Surprised, he stared at her. “What’s missing?”

With a shaking hand, she held out a white stick covered with a pink cap, upon which were two blue lines.

He stared at it uncomprehending for a moment, then his eyes widened. “Is this… is this real?”

“I’ve done four.” She nodded. “It’s positive.”

With a delighted whoop he got up, scooped up his wife and spun her around.

“We’re having a baby!!!”


	27. Handle With Care

Katsuya was fuming as he ran from the car park to the hospital.

He had been in the middle of a ProLeague duel when his phone had rung. Since he had been waiting for a certain phone call for the last week, he had answered it mid-match, irritating his opponent and getting rude comments from the crowd.

At least until he had apologised to his opponent and explained that his wife had gone into labour, so he was going to have to surrender the duel. They had been happy for the free win and his fans had wished Yugi well as he had fled the arena.

He was probably going to be in trouble with his sponsors later for leaving a duel they had paid for him to attend, but he did not care. This was so much more important.

It had still taken him far too long to get across town. The traffic had been horrendous and the bus had been late, meaning it had taken him nearly two hours to get from Kaiba Land Japan on the edge of Domino, all the way to Domino Central Hospital.

It did not take him long to find out which room Yugi was in and bolt down the hallway, narrowly avoiding colliding with a doctor who yelled at him for running in the halls. As he reached the right room he paused in the doorway to take in the sight of Yugi led on the bed, one wrapped bundle in her arms, and Meisa sat on her left side, holding another bundle.

“Hey.” Katsuya said softly as he entered, “Sorry, I tried to get here.”

“Stop apologising and come see your kids.” Yugi huffed at him, adjusting the purple eyed baby in her arms.

He came and sat on her other side, taking his brown eyed baby from Meisa.

“Hey little one.” He smiled as he carefully hugged the child, kind of worried he was going to break it.

“That’s our daughter.” Yugi grinned at him, “And I have our son.”

“She has my eyes.” The new father breathed, staring between the gorgeous little girl in his arms and the son that his wife was holding. “And he has yours.”

“Are we still going with the names we chose?” The new mother asked, missing the way her twin, who had no idea what they had picked out, perked up.

“I think so.” He smiled softly and looked down at his daughter, “Welcome to the family, Shizuye.”

“And,” Yugi breathed as she gazed happily at her son, “Welcome to you too, Suguru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shizuye means Quiet/Blessed and is named after her Aunt, Kawaii Shizuka  
> Suguru means Excellent and is named after his Grandfather, Mutou Sugoroku


	28. Running

Yugi could hear the sounds of giggling as she unlocked her front door.

As she stepped inside she had to lift the shopping bags over the heads of a pair of laughing two year olds as they toddled past her, their father dodging around her. “Hi Yuge, bye Yuge.”

“Hi Katsu.” Yugi chuckled as she headed for the kitchen, well aware that if her husband actually wanted to catch the twins, he probably could.

Probably.

The smell of the beef stew that had been cooking away for the last eight hours in the slow cooker, made her mouth water. She dished up four bowls, blowing on two of them to make them cool down faster and fully aware hers would probably be cold by the time she actually got to eat it.

Then she paused, noting that the noise had stopped and frowned.

There was no way that Katsuya was getting the kids into their highchairs. There was never silence when they were supposed to be getting into their highchairs, no matter who was trying to get the kids in them.

Leaving the bowls for now, she glanced around the apartment and finally found the trio on the sofa, Katsuya in the middle, a child curled into him on each side.

She would have been annoyed that he was not getting them ready for their meals, except the trio of them looked so cute when they were asleep together that she found she could not get too mad.

Plus it meant, for the first time in three months, she would get to eat her meal first!


	29. Just Say No

Yugi ran a hand through her hair as she watched her FINALLY sleeping, four-year-old children.

It had taken three stories, but the pair of them had finally gotten off to sleep, meaning that she would have some quiet time with their father to discuss…

Hands on her shoulders made her jump and turn her head to see who had crept up behind her. Her shoulders sank as she realised it was her husband, relaxed and glanced back towards the kids.

“What’s up?” He whispered in her ear, causing her to bite her lower lip and nod towards the living room, not wanting to have the conversation where it might wake up the kids.

He followed her down there and waited until she had mostly closed the door. Then he asked again, “What’s up?”

“I had a phone call earlier, from Chancellor Samejima, from Duel Academia Central.”

“He still wants you to help teach Paranormal Dueling?” Katsuya scowled.

“No, no, he found another teacher for that.” She waved it off, relieved about that fact since Meisa had ranted about the insulting name, “There’s a bigger issue that he would like Meisa and I to help with.”

“Oh?” The wariness in Katsuya’s tone was justified.

“He wants us to go to Duel Academia to teach some people how to handle themselves in Shadow Games.” She grimaced, unhappy.

“Why would there be Shadow Games?”

“Because there’s a new set of Shadow items.”

“What?!” Suddenly he understood why she had not wanted him near the children when she had filled him in. “How the hell is there another set of Items?”

“I don’t know, but I have to find out. If I can find out how they were made, we can find out which souls…”

“Don’t even think about it.” Her husband suddenly hissed out, his anger making her pause. “Unless you want to end up having to open the gates again.”

She flinched. No. No, she did not.

“You don’t have to go. You’re not responsible for everything bad that happens when it comes to the Shadows.” Katsuya pointed out.

“Katsu… there’s kids involved.” His anger fizzled out at her quiet, slightly miserable tone, “Kids that are about the same age we were when we got dragged into the Shadows. I can’t leave them without help. Not when we could have avoided so much pain if we had just had an adult Shadow User who was willing to help us, rather than try and…”

When she trailed off, he hugged her. “How long will you be gone?”

“Samejima says its only for a few days. I’m guessing a week at least, depending on how stubborn the kids are.” She leaned into him, needing the comfort after the news she had received, “I can’t leave them without help. I just can’t.”

“Which leaves me with our kids.” Katsuya grimaced.

“I could take them with me?” Yugi offered as she pulled away and looked up at him.

“And make them a target? I don’t think so.” He shook his head before sighing, “Promise me you’ll be careful?”

“I promise.”

“Because seriously, I don’t want to have to explain to our kids why Okaasan isn’t coming home.”

“Katsuya.” She grabbed his collar and pulled him down to where she could easily kiss him, making him pause. “I promise, I’m coming back. If Zorc himself can’t take me down, these copycats won’t manage it.”


	30. Home

The Mutou twins were exhausted as they stumbled through the front door.

It had been a long month and there were many things to consider now, but they were just glad to be home with their family.

Tomorrow they would go and give their grandfather a hug, but right now all they wanted to do was collapse in bed.

Well, that and…

“Kaasan!”

The taller of the sisters staggered as a tiny something collided with her back, but did not fall because of the thing that impacted her front, causing her to drop her bag.

“Tousan! Kaasan’s home!” The monster clambering up onto Yugi’s back yelled as she scooped up the smaller monster in front of her. “Are you home for good now?”

“Yeah, Suguru. We are.” His mother promised as he clung, arms wrapped around her neck. She shifted Shizuye so she was sat on her hip as Meisa let out an amused snort and scooped up the dropped bag. “Have you two been good for Otousan?”

“They’ve been little oni.” The father in question, summoned by their children’s delighted calls, smirked at her as he came over.

“Kids, I asked you to be…” Yugi’s joking scold was cut off by Katsuya smothering her and the children in a bear hug, followed by a kiss that made both children make grossed out noises.

“I’m glad you’re home.” He breathed as he pushed her fringe out of her eyes, having missed her like crazy.

“Me too, Katsu. Me too.”


End file.
